THE antibiotic-resistant bacteria running riot in hospitals could soon meet
their match. Researchers in California say it may be possible to make the most
dangerous bugs vulnerable to antibiotics again.
Staphylococcus bacteria have become a serious problem in hospitals because
they have evolved systems to defeat many antibiotics. Tens of thousands of
patients become infected every year, and doctors are running out of new
antibiotics to treat them. The most effective weapons used in the past,
penicillin and related drugs called beta-lactams, have long been useless against
these superbugs.
Beta-lactams work by targeting the proteins that help reinforce bacterial
cell…
